Chicago Tribune Editor and Former Swift Boat Commander Breaks Silence; Says Kerry Critics Wrong

Chicago Tribune ^ | 08/21/04 | Chicago Tribune

[Pikamax]

sheesh, now we have PR releases for the impartial mainstream press

[Boundless]

Also being discussed in Swift boat skipper: Kerry critics wrong

[BillyCrockett]

The trail of sKerry backers to this guy ought to be a mile wide and easy to track. Kerry HAD to find someone new to refute the 250 other guys. Now its what... Kerry's got 9?

[NavySEAL F-16]

William Rood will not be available for further comment or interviews.

Doesn't that just say it all.

[BillyCrockett]

I'll bet O'Neil and crew will rip this guy's story to shreds too.

[NavySEAL F-16]

I did a google search on this guy and nothing came up.

No bio, no articles, nothing!

[Dog]

So he will be ducking interviews....wow!

[martin_fierro]

"That's my story, and I'm hiding from it sticking to it!"

[NavySEAL F-16]

DOES HE EVEN EXIST?

[Thebaddog]

It always nice to see the Tribune coming out and doing the political thing as opposed to just reporting the news. Marianne Lipinsky is a graduate of the peoples university of Michigan and she is running the paper as if it was the Michigan Daily.

[claudiustg]

---NOTE: William Rood will not be available for further comment or interviews. Deputy Managing Editor George de Lama and reporter Tim Jones are available.---

Is this some kind of sick joke?

[Wissa]

It IS an interesting approach. Make some claims and then refuse to answer questions. Makes one wonder what he'd back down on under crossexamination.

[RogueIsland]

Was he on Kerry's boat? If not, according to Kerry, he should STFU, because he can't comment.

[Dog]

Mickey Kaus last night posted on his blog that a major paper would have a story coming out on Sunday that would put the SBVT issue to rest.......this looks to be it.

[JennysCool]

There is a "Bill Rood" who posts stuff like this on Usenet:

Funny, I was one of the 200,000 or so on the Mall on January 18. I didn't
see a single Iraqi. All I saw were Americans, and maybe a few Latin
Americans. I saw young, old, middle class and poor. I saw white, black and
brown. I saw a banner from the Rochester, MN, Mennonite Church that read,
"War is not pro-life."

Before I went, I read an article claiming ANSWER is a front for Workers of
the World Party. Now we're hearing they're Iraqi spies. Which is it? Oh,
I get it. Any slander is OK in attempting to discredit and fragment your
enemy.

[Dog]

The false accounts are casting doubts on the actions of those men who served with and under Rood, men who are not public figures running for president but brave, ordinary Americans, war veterans whose courage, Rood believes, should not be diminished by a heated political campaign."

Rood labels the Swifties as liars and then won't give interviews........lame.

[johniegrad]

William Rood.

[SittinYonder]

William Rood will not be available for further comment or interviews. Deputy Managing Editor George de Lama and reporter Tim Jones are available.

Do you think any reporter at the Chicago Tribune would ever take this as an answer if they had questions and were trying to get a quote? They'd peseter and hound and annoy trying to get more comments. I'll be they leave Rood alone.

[Wissa]

...that would put the SBVT issue to rest....

They WISH.

[Pikamax]

If it is, it does not help Kerry at all.